Martha Stewart isn't all bad

I've never been a huge fan of Martha Stewart, and admit, I'm still not. But I recently had her Martha's Everyday Food app for the iphone recommended to me by someone who knows food, so decided to give it a try.

This Beef and Orange Stir-Fry is the first recipe I've tried from it, since we seem to be enjoying having stir-fry for dinner since the weather warmed up, and everyone in this house has been eating a good amount of oranges lately.

Right off the top, there is not enough oranges or sauce. Before I even got this on the table, I added in more orange segments. And still ran out.

Aside from needing more sauce and oranges, however, this was quite good. There was barely enough left for the hubby's lunch the next day, none at all for mine, and was given thumbs up by everyone.

I admit, I've been enjoying the shopping list feature of this app, including how it links back to the recipe you need the item for. As for recipes, I'm still working my way through a few of them and holding out judgement until I've done a really thorough testing, even though I will make this again.

Beef and Orange Stir-Fry

Martha Stewart's Everyday Food

• 3 oranges (I used 1 more and could have easily used 2-3 more)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 pounds trimmed boneless sirloin or rib eye, cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 to 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 6 scallions, green parts only, cut into 1-inch lengths
• 
  
• Into a small bowl, finely grate zest and squeeze juice from 1 orange. Add garlic and soy sauce.
• With a sharp paring knife, peel remaining 2 oranges. Slice oranges crosswise 1/2 inch thick, then halve slices; push out and discard any seeds. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, toss meat with cornstarch until coated. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Working in batches (adding more oil if needed), brown beef on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes; transfer to a plate.
• Pour juice mixture into skillet, and boil until syrupy, about 1 minute. Return beef to skillet; add orange slices and scallions. Toss until coated and heated through. Serve hot.

Cooking out of town

I learned something last week: My grandparents oven is broken.

They didn't know it.

And I wish I'd known it before I started dinner, since they have a perfectly good convection oven on the counter beside the oven.

It was really a shame, because the dinner I was making included this lovely chicken, glazed with a peach-bourbon glaze, would have been so tasty otherwise.

The big tip off for me should have been when the pie crusts for the banana cream pie I was going to make did not seem to get golden and beautiful. Guess I didn't notice.

What really clued us in, however, was the little sparks popping out of the oven, and when you looked inside and saw tiny little flames on the little orange spots on the burner, while the rest of the burner stayed a dull grey. That and raw chicken after 1 1/2 hours of baking.

Over at my mother's house, the oven worked just fine. I had left over pie dough, and managed to throw together a blueberry pie for my "little" brother.

Do you think he liked it (aside from his offer to pay me to make him a bunch of blueberry pies he could freeze for later?)

Blueberry Pie

1 recipe for double crusted pie dough

1 bag of frozen blueberries, not defrosted (about 4 cups)

2 tbsp corn starch

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Mix the blueberries with the cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice. Pour into bottom pie shell, cover and crimp as you like, being sure to cut a hole for venting steam.

Bake at 400F, on a tray, for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and continue to bake for 45-55 minutes, until golden on top, and bubbling a bit. Keep an eye out that you do not burn the crust.

Serve with vanilla ice cream, warm or at room temperature.

I Heart Cooking Clubs - Mark Bittman Edition: Potluck snack

It's Potluck time at I Heart Cooking Clubs (and thank goodness it is!) I've been busy, busy, busy, and while I've done a tonne of cooking, none of it has been for home.

Muffins are always a great thing to make and have on hand when you are pressed for time. They take minutes to come together, bake while you are showering, and are great warm right out of the oven, or at room temperature later on when you finally get a chance to eat one. Add in the flexibility of muffins, your choice of fillings and toppings, and they are the perfect choice for this week's Potluck.

I threw these together this morning, Mark Bittman's blueberry muffins, using local blueberries we picked ourselves (we like to pick here - don't forget to grab and ice cream while you are there.) Within minutes the house smelled of freshly baked goodness, always a nice smell, and there was a child standing over me, waiting, waiting....

I haven't tried one yet, but am already thinking that next time I will use buttermilk instead of regular milk in the batter. And double the recipe.

I Heart Cooking Clubs - Mark Bittman Edition: Summer Heat

This week's theme for Mark Bittman and the I Heart Cooking Clubs could not have been more appropriate. It has been sweltering around here lately, and that's before you add in the extra humidity!

So when invited to Beat the Heat, I had a great idea and the ingredients on hand to do it.

Even better, I had a little helper desperate to be involved.

My little guy has been desperate for me to make lemon sherbert for him (which he is eating, right now, up way past his bed time.) Because of this request, I had two big bag loads of lemons, and a volunteer to make some homemade lemonade.

I also had family coming for dinner, on a hot, hot day, and felt lemonade would go over very well with dinner.

My little guy was amazingly helpful - he spent a full half hour with a lemon reamer, getting the most juice he could out of those lemons. (And when he was done with juicing for lemonade, he promptly juiced for his lemon sherbert.)

I used Mark Bittman's lemonade recipe from How to Cook Everything, which was simple and makes a tart lemonade. Personally, I like mine a bit sweeter, but as I had lots of simple syrup left, I could adjust my own glass to suit me.

Two pitchers of lemonade (a double batch) did not last very long, telling me this was a keeper recipe that I need to make again.

Pretty sure I still have a few lemons left, and likely a volunteer to ream more of them.

Happy Mother's Day, Mark Bittman Style

I'm a mom.

Meet my punks, my boys....


Yup, that's my oldest. Growing up so fast and gaining maturity. (hehehe)


And my little Sous Chef, in a very normal, typical position for him.

If asked what I've accomplished in my life so far, those two are my answer. I have two beautiful, silly boys, each confident in their own selves, polite to others, and unique in their own way.

My little one greeted me this morning with a couple of lovely Mother's Day cards he'd made at school, then jumped right in to make juice for me. But first he said, "Pancakes! I want you to make pancakes for breakfast this morning!"

I declined on the pancakes and instead jazzed up my selection for this week's entry for the I Hearts Cooking Club, where the theme was Breakfast in Bed.


I have been craving scones lately, so when my copy of How to Cook Everything just happened to be open to page 252, where Cream Scones are featured, I took it as a sign I should make my own.

What I'd really like is white chocolate blueberry scones (thanks so much Starbucks, you put the idea in my head!), but I keep forgetting to pick up dried blueberries for them. Instead I made only one change to this recipe (other than shape) - I replaced the dried currents/raisins with vanilla bean instead, to give these scones a delicate vanilla flavor.

The scones on their own, not bad, but as I've found with almost every Bittman recipe I've made so far, lacking in the flavor department.

So I added some....


Now, I don't know that I'd want to eat this in bed exactly, unless I had a very big napkin to catch any drips I might make with that lovely, bright strawberry juice. I'm a messy eater, and probably would splash something.

Happy Mother's Day to all you other Mom's out there. May your morning include breakfast in bed, and funky homemade cards from your own punks.

Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman: Have a 3 pack

It wasn't hard to pick a selection for this version of Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman. What was hard was finding one with a picture I was willing to show anyone!

First up we had the Rib Eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce, on pages 166 and 167. Scrumptious, and tasty it was. Wish I'd made more. Will definitely make it again. But if you want to see a good picture of it, open the book up and look at that one. Mine was awful (and I was too hungry at the time to try for better ones.)

Next we have PW's Potato Skins on pages 22 to 24. Much tastier than they sound (cause skins does not sound appetizing), we ate these so fast that no pictures were taken at all! Even my potato disliking children, who only willingly eat mashed potatoes and french fries, had seconds.

But at last we come to a recipe that I got a picture of!


Here you go, PW's Perfect Pie Crust, used to make my apple-caramel crumble pie, and found on pages 128-129.

I admit I wasn't as happy with the end results of this, though I suspect it was because I made this in my mother's kitchen, without my pastry cutter, my rolling pin, or my measuring cups. That and I had the very firm belief that the pie could have used another 10 minutes in the oven, something everyone else told me I was crazy about.

Ree's pie crust was fine, but I suspect it would have been better had I made it in my own kitchen. Oh well, maybe next time.

I think with these three, I've run out of back up recipes for my Pioneer Woman folder and I had best get into the kitchen and do some cooking!

I Hearts Cooking Clubs, Mark Bittman Edition: Pantry Raid

It's the second week of Mark Bittman and I'm still here and still cooking from How to Cook Everything.

On the advice of several other bloggers, I did look into borrowing the libraries copy of Kitchen Express. It is now sitting on my living room couch, waiting for me to read it.


This week's them was Pantry Staples, and what pantry does not have banana's waiting to be used?

One of the things I like to do when trying a new "chef" is to try a few basic recipes, things that we like alot and that are made regularly in my house, such as banana bread. I even made banana bread for one of my choices for Tyler Florence Fridays, the predecessor of this little group.

So this week I made Mark Bittman's banana bread, a suitable choice for the pantry staples theme as I did not need to pick up a single item to make it.


However if you look closely at my pictures, you will see this bread looks more like coconut bread than banana bread. That's because the recipe calls for coconut in the batter (and nuts, which I omitted.)

And it tastes more like coconut bread than banana bread.

Not a bad thing, if you like coconut (hubby and I do), but not a good thing if what you wanted was banana bread. And I wanted banana bread. The kids wanted banana bread. The hubby wanted to know where the butter was so he could butter his slices before adding them into his lunch box.

Not a bad recipe, not a bad result, just not what I wanted. Though it did help me use up several over ripe bananas and for that I'm happy.

Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman: Desserts

Muneeba's back this week, and found my weak spot for this week's theme: Desserts.

It's not that I don't like or make desserts, its just I've been forgetting to take pictures alot lately. Plus my tripod is broken, so when I do remember, my pictures aren't doing what I'd like them to do. (I don't have Ree's ability to keep my camera steady with my hip or arms, which is a pity.)


Patsy's Blackberry Cobbler, found on pages 212 to 213 of Pioneer Woman Cooks.

With blueberries instead of blackberries, cause I like them better.

My husband wasn't even interested in trying this, since it has blueberries in it, and my kids, who love blueberries, just said, "No thanks, can we have a cookie?" So I had the entire thing to myself.

I wouldn't call this a cobbler, but more a Clafouti. It certainly made a good breakfast, warmed up a bit. I never did try it with whipped cream or ice cream, just ate it plain, and I liked it - good thing since I am the only one who ate it.


I will make this again sometime, with a different fruit, but I will reduce the amount of sugar on top entirely as my sugar did not melt on top and make a golden crispy top, and really wasn't necessary.

And that's my contribution to Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman. Go check it out yourself.

Happy Birthday Mom

My mother's birthday is within days of Christmas. Not the best time of the year to have a birthday, being so close to a holiday.

For years my Grandparents made sure my mother always had a good birthday, and that she always received at least one gift, along with having a special dinner.

This year, however, they aren't well, and I knew that if I didn't do something, my mother would not get her traditional dinner of Hawaiian spare ribs and rice.


Now it isn't my fault my mother chose to have prime rib instead of spare ribs. Can you blame her?


I did, however, make her the cake she has had for years: an angel food cake, layered, with a lightened custard, served with strawberries.

I've watched my grandmother make this cake for years, so I knew what to do, but still made a few modifications. My grandmother always bought the angel food cake, I made mine from scratch. My grandmother used Birds Eye Custard powder, lightened up with whipped heavy cream, I made a pastry cream, with lots of vanilla bean seeds in it, lightened up with whipped heavy cream.

My mother would have been happy if I'd have just given her the cream and a spoon.


It isn't fancy. Actually, when put together, it isn't even pretty. But it sure tastes good.

We had to cut our visit to my mother short (I'm sick as can be, still, and really not looking forward to trying to work tomorrow,) but at least we were there long enough to carry on some of the birthday tradition.

Custard Cake

1 angel food cake (store bought is fine, if you don't want to make your own), cut into three layers
1 recipe for custard, below, cooled
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp sugar
Sliced fruit of your choice (my family has always used frozen strawberries, defrosted with a touch of sugar, as well as canned, sliced peaches in light syrup, though I admit I skipped that this year.)

Whip the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla until it is light and fluffy, being careful not to over whip. Fold the cream into the custard, until well mixed.

Place the bottom layer of cake on a large platter, one that will contain the custard that will fall off the sides of the cake. Spoon 1/4 of the custard on top of the cake, spreading slightly. Repeat with the next two layers. Use the last 1/4 of the custard to try and "ice" the sides of the cake.

If there is any left over, place it in the middle hole of the angel food cake.

Or use your fingers to lick the bowl clean.

To serve, put a slice of cake on a plate or in a bowl, and top with your choice of fruit.

"Custard"
(I know, it's pastry cream, but my grandmother calls it her custard for her banana cream pies, and who am I to argue with her about it?)

1/4 cup corn starch
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups milk, scalded
3 slightly beaten egg yolks
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla (or the seeds of one vanilla bean)

Mix corn starch, sugar and salt together in a medium pot. Gradually add milk. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until all the sugar and cornstarch has been dissolved and the milk is hot.

Add a ladle full of hot milk into the eggs, whisking constantly to temper the eggs. Whisk the egg mixture back into the hot milk in the pot. Continue to cook for approximately 5 minutes, still stirring, until the mixture is thick and smooth.

Remove from the heat and add in the butter and the vanilla, whisking well to incorporate.

Allow to cool to room temperature.

To use for banana cream pie, pour into a pre baked pie shell that has been lined with slices of banana, then top with slightly sweetened whipped cream.

Tyler Florence Friday: Its been fun Tyler!

Its that time. The last Tyler Florence Friday.

What fun it has been, exploring a new chef and his recipes, meeting so many new bloggers.

Rather than end with a bang, I thought I would end with something simple and worth keeping in your repetoire: Tyler's basic crepe recipe.

Crepes are such a worth while item to learn how to make. They are a blank canvas for just about anything you want to fill them with. Smear them with a bit of jam and sprinkle them with icing sugar, and they look impressive. Or saute them in butter sauce and flame them for major wow. Skip the sugar and fill them with chicken and spinach for a fancy main course.

Really, you can do anything you want with them!


I threw these together one Saturday morning, a quick whirl in the blender, then cutting some fruit while the crepe batter rested. My filling of choice that day was sauted peaches in a creamy caramel sauce (brown sugar and butter with a touch of cream), and a drizzle of cinnamon honey yogurt.

The husband had thirds.

Thanks for all the new recipes Tyler! And big hugs and thanks to the lovely ladies who host Tyler Florence Fridays each week, for their hard work and inspiration!

Tyler Florence Fridays: I think I need to make this again

In my "spare time" this month, we managed to get apple picking with the children and our friends. As I mentioned before, we tried a new orchards, and while it was pretty, I think next year we will go back to our usual orchard, which has more ladders, a corn maze, and more importantly, apple cider donuts.

Warm, tiny, apple cider donuts, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Are you wondering what this has to do with my Tyler Florence Fridays choice for this week? There is a connection, really, there is. No, there are not any donuts in this week's choice, but there is apples and apple juice.

The donuts would be a nice addition though, wouldn't they?

You can find the recipe for Thick Pork Chops with Spiced Apples and Raisins online, or on pages 58 and 59 of Tyler's Real Kitchen (a book I must return to the library, three renewals is the maximum allowed.) I did not use bone in pork chops, I had pork loin chops, but it seemed to work and was quite tasty. And used up some of the apples I have not had the time to make into apple crumble.

I think this is the second last Friday for Tyler Florence Fridays. I'm still trying to decide if I want to try cooking Nigella for my next chef, again, in all my spare time.

Have a nice day and eat an apple - I have plenty left if you need one!

Tyler Florence Fridays: Sweets are sweet

I have to admit, when I started participating in Tyler Florence Fridays, I didn't realize it was a year long event. I didn't even think about it having an end date, I simply assumed we would be blogging until no one wanted to anymore, or until our great hostesses (hi ladies!) decided they were done.

So I am sad to learn that the year is coming to an end.

Not that I will stop making Tyler's recipes, but I will miss the motivation to try new things.

I think maybe I will have to find a new chef to focus on and maybe a blogging group to join in with, just for that extra motivation. (And for those of you who know how much baking and home made with-a-recipe-cooking I've done in the last month, you can stop laughing now - things will settle down and I will get there!)

Yes, it is still busy here. Fortunately, I have a few Tyler recipes in my archives to go to. I had a hard time choosing this week's selection, one of three choices, and they all appealed to me.

The original recipe for my final choice called for pistachios and strawberries, for the Pistachio Meringues with Warm Strawberries found on page 256 of Eat This Book. I didn't have pistachios, I had cashews. And I did not have strawberries, I had peaches. I also had a bit of Grand Marnier, so I changed the recipe to Cashew Meringues with Drunken (instead of warm) Peaches.

Hmmmm, these were tasty. Not as crispy on the outside as I'd have liked, but at the time it had been raining for days and the humidity was not low. Cashews and peaches go quite well together, and a splash of orange flavored alcohol really brightens up the fresh peaches.

It isn't too late to join in on Tyler Florence Fridays, just make sure you make your submission before noon tomorrow (Friday.)

Can't wait to see what everyone else made.

Tyler Florence Friday: Making best of seasonal and local

It is a good thing I got alot of recipes for Tyler Florence Fridays in August, because September has not been good for recipe type cooking so far!

And besides', this tart, a Peach and Blueberry Crostata, really would be at its best when peaches and blueberries were in season. Fortunately they both were during August. While the peaches were Ontario grown and seasonal, the blueberries were hand picked by myself, with a bit of help from my children.

A crostata is a free form pie, with all the flaky goodness of a pie without the pan. Perfect for bringing somewhere and sharing, which we did with this crostata. It was enjoyed all around and made enough that 8 of us managed to share it.

You can find the recipe for the crostata on page 260 of Tyler's Eat This Book. His picture is much better than mine but the end result was likely the same: empty plates.

TFF: A sweet little dessert

Before I get into my selection for this week's Tyler Florence Friday, did you see who "won" last week and was featured on Tyler's very own blog? It was me!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I could not have done it without Tyler's lovely recipe, some good shrimp, and most of all, my family! I love you all! Hehehehe (Is that really how award speeches go? I never watch awards, so I was being silly in winging it, so seriously? Is that really the kind of thing people say when they receive an award?)

Okay that was fun, now back to the seriously stuff: dessert!

How about Tyler's Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars? While blueberries aren't quite in season yet, they freeze fabulously, so good berries are always available to make this tasty little bar. Okay, it is really a cheesecake baked square and cut into bars, but it's still tasty!

The only change I made was to use lower fat cheesecake instead of a full fat (I think I've said before that I like the extra tang you get from the lower fat version). Otherwise I followed it faithfully. I even cut it into the recommended number of bars. I didn't cut it evenly or well, but I did get the same number of pieces that Tyler told me I would.

Be sure to head over and check out some of the recipes Tyler has posted on his blog. There is quite the selection available.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
by Tyler Florence, as found on Food Network

For the base:
Butter, for greasing
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
9 graham crackers
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 eggs
2 lemons, zested and juiced
About 1/2 cup sugar, eyeball it
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

For the base:

Grease the bottom of a 9 by 9-inch baking pan with butter. Then place parchment paper over the top, pressing down at the corners. In a food processor, process the sugar, cinnamon and graham crackers until you have the texture of bread crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse a couple of times to fully incorporate. Pour into the lined baking pan and gently pat down with the base of a glass. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes until golden. When done set aside to cool.

For the filling:

Add cream cheese, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar to the food processor and mix until well combined. It should have a smooth consistency. Pour onto the cooled base and then cover with blueberries. They will sink slightly but should still be half exposed -- as the cake bakes they will sink a little more and break down.

Bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until the center only slightly jiggles. Remove from the oven and cool completely before refrigerating for at least 3 hours. Once set, remove from pan using the parchment lining and slice into 10 rectangular bars. Dust with powdered sugar.

Happy 37th Birthday to Peabody

If you are a food blogger, you aren't asking who Peabody is right now. You know. You've been to her site and drooled over the pictures. You learned very quickly to not be eating or drinking while reading her posts, unless you like cleaning things up or are interested in buying a new computer.

How about if you aren't a food blogger? Well, have you ever heard of Refund Muffins? Those are Peabody's muffins.

What? You've never heard of Refund Muffins?

Oh my goodness. (Quick, follow the link and go read about them! Remember the warning about food or drink while reading her blog.)

Better now? Good.

Well, last week (yes, I know I'm late,) was Peabody's 37th birthday, which Elle proposed we help her celebrate in true food blogging fashion - by cooking for her! The twist was that we were to cook a recipe of Peabody's, from her blog.

Sure, I could have made Refund Muffins. It would likely have made my kids happy, but I wanted something different, something summery, even if we aren't really experiencing summer conditions. I wanted ice cream.


To heck with the lack of summer, I made ice cream, and really good ice cream. Homemade ice cream that made use of a local fruit and was still smooth and creamy and fabulous 4 days after I froze it (we got side tracked by other events and desserts, how else would ice cream stay in my freezer for so long?)

Raspberry Honey Ice Cream

by Peabody

1 quart raspberries
1/3 cup raspberry honey(or any honey will do, I use a regular honey)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half (I didn't have any, so used half regular milk and half heavy cream in its place)
1 tsp lemon juice
1- 1 ½ cups sugar(depending on how sweet your berries are)
3 egg yolks
¼ tsp salt

Add the yolks,sugar and honey to a medium-size bowl. Whisk together and then set aside.
Using a double boiler over medium-low heat, add the half and half, cream, raspberries and salt. Regularly whisk the mixture, heating until the temperature reaches approximately 145F. The mixture should begin to turn purple.
Once the cream mixture has reached the desired temperature, slowly add about half of the mixture to the eggs and sugar while whisking vigorously. This will prevent the eggs from curdling. Once the eggs and cream have been thoroughly integrated, pour back the egg mix into the remaining cream.
Whisk constantly and slowly as the mix rises in temperature. Once the temperature has reached 165-170F — or when the mix evenly coats th

e back of a spoon — remove from heat and add the lime juice and vanilla. Whisk them in completely and run through a sieve to remove any raspberries seeds. Move to a new container to cool. The mix can be placed in the freezer for 2 to 3 hours or, preferably, into the refrigerator overnight.
Churn according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. After churning, place in freezer to firm up. I recommend placing a seal of plastic wrap tight against the ice cream after making it to prevent a skin from forming on the ice cream’s surface. Serve once firm enough.

While Peabody's variation for serving this ice cream, in a cream soda float, sounded amazing, I made mine a bit more grown up and served it on slices of grilled lemon yogurt cake instead. It made a lovely dessert, simple and elegant, out of what was basically cake and ice cream. Cause you can't have a birthday without cake and ice cream, can you?

Happy Birthday Peabody! I hope 37 is everything you hoped it would be!

Hi from my grandparents party!

Sixty years is a big milestone. For a birthday.

Sixty years of marriage is a HUGE deal.

Combine that with a 60th birthday (my lovely Aunt), and my grandparents combined birthdays, and my family had lots of reasons to celebrate.

The weather didn't cooperate with us, we crammed way too many people into my grandparents house, but there was plenty to eat, plenty to drink and no lack of conversation and catching up.

After a marathon cooking/baking session the night before, and an early morning drive to get there, I finished up my cooking in my grandmother's kitchen, while she "supervised" me.


Little story before I explain this photo. Yes, I have a blow torch in my hands and am using it on pies.


My grandfather turned 81 in May. For years he worked shifts, where he would get his schedule months and months in advance. If he worked on his birthday, my grandmother would always make him two banana cream pies for his birthday: one for him at home and one for him to bring into work to share with a co-worker who shared a birthday with him.

When I asked what he wanted for his birthday and the party, my grandfather said banana cream pie. So I made a bunch. Ten little ones and one regular sized one. (He invited that former co-worker over and they had the first pieces of pie.) While there are lots of recipes for banana cream pie, I used my grandmother's recipe.

And I used his blow torch to cook the meringue, which my grandmother was fascinated by (while my husband pretended to cringe on the far side of the room with my camera.)


I left a couple of these little pies in my grandparents fridge, which made him very, very happy.

And I will be getting myself a torch, not a mini kitchen one, but a propane torch like I used at my grandfathers, cause that was fun and I love the way the meringue browned and expanded under the flame.


I hope that I look as happy at my 60th anniversary. And that someone knows how to make banana cream pie.

Banana Cream Pie
by my grandmother
Makes 1, 9 inch pie

Single pie crust, prebaked (I used Dorie's Good for Almost Anything recipe)
1/4 cup corn starch
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups milk, scalded
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla (I used ground vanilla beans)
1-2 bananas
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
pinch of salt
1/3 -1/2 cup sugar


Mix the corn starch, sugar and salt in a medium sized pot. Gradually add in the warm milk, stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat (you could use a double boiler if you are worried about scorching the bottom of the pan), for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture is bubbling and thickening. Slowly add a ladle full of the milk mixture into the egg yolks, to temper them, then add the egg mixture back into the milk, still stirring constantly. Cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes more. Remove from the heat. Add in the butter and vanilla, stirring to be sure it is well incorporated.

If you are not filling the pie shell immediately, the lay a piece of plastic wrap across the top of the custard to prevent a film from forming.

For the pie, spread a thin layer of cream in the bottom of the prebaked pie shell. Slice the bananas thinly and cover the cream with a single layer of bananas. Layer more cream, thicker, then more banana, then more cream, until you are at the top of the pie, ending with the cream.

Make the meringue; Mix the salt and cream of tarter with the egg whites on medium-high speed with an electric or hand mixer, until light and frothy. Increase the speed to high and gradually add in the sugar, continuing to beat the egg whites until they have firm peaks but are still shiny and glossy. Mound on the pie. Place under the broiler until the meringue is golden brown and puffed, or borrow a propane blow torch and have some fun.

TFF: Dessert is served

Was it only in February where Tyler's mixed berry bread pudding was popping up on blogs everywhere? It seems right, that during the "longest" month of the year, when the dark and the cold is depressing and dragging us all down, that Tyler's bread pudding would be a comfort food that calls to the masses.

I admit, I skipped over this when I saw it in his book. I think it was the lemon fondant part of the title. To me, fondant is the sugary stuff you roll to put over a cake. It is there to make a cake look pretty, not for the taste.

Then I read a few reviews and decided to give it a try. I found some egg bread, the best I could do, pulled my bag of frozen mixed berries from the freezer, and made bread pudding. It took longer to cook than Tyler indicated, but that's okay. I'd rather take an extra 10 minutes to bake something than have it cook 10 minutes sooner than expected and end up burnt or over done.

I halved the "fondant", being reluctant to add 2 full cups of icing sugar to the pudding. After all, there was already enough eggs and cream that it wasn't exactly health food, even with all the fruit. Turned out to be a good decision as the touch of lemon from the fondant was perfect! Not too tart, not too sweet, just nicely there.

It was even better the next day, cold.

A definite make again, probably at the request of my oldest, who loved every bite of this and asked for seconds.

This is my submission for this week's Tyler Florence Fridays. No worries, I haven't abandoned my deep fryer, but just looking for a bit of variety, that's all!

Mixed Berry Bread Pudding with Lemon Fondant
by Tyler Florence, from Stirring the Pot, recipe found on Food Network

Butter, room temperature
4 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup sugar, plus more for dusting and topping
4 large slices brioche bread
2 cups mixed berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries), plus more for garnish

Lemon Fondant:

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 lemons, zested and juiced

Butter and sugar a large sized casserole dish.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and sugar. Combine well with a whisk.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Tear the brioche up into large pieces using your hands, add to the custard mixture and toss to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepare pan and gently press down on the surface. Sprinkle with more sugar, then refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes to let soak.

Bake for 25 minutes in the center of the oven. The pudding is ready when it has puffed up and the custard is set. The top should be a nice golden color. Remove and allow to cool slightly.

Make the fondant. In a mixing bowl combine sifted powdered sugar, water, lemon zest and juice.

Once the pudding has cooled slightly, drizzle the lemon fondant over warm bread pudding and serve with extra fresh berries.

Ina versus Dorie, head to head, cake to cake

Lemon yogurt cake.

Two recipes, almost identical.

Not surprising when you read that Ina's recipe is based on Dorie's recipe.

Put the recipes side by side and see very few differences: Dorie gives the option of ground nuts, Ina doubles the yogurt and has a touch more lemon. A few minor things between the instructions, but really, on paper they are essentially the same cake (minus the glaze and/or syrup, both of which I ignored.)

I wanted to see how similar, exactly, they were, so I made them both, one after the other, and conducted a "blind taste test" amongst my boys.

Can you see a difference?

Ina barely nudged out Dorie in moistness, being a bit moister, which isn't surprising based on the amount of yogurt in her version. And while I agreed that Ina's was the more moist of the two, I preferred Dorie's for texture.

Taste wise, essentially identical. Both mildly lemon, both soft crumbed, both very good.

And isn't it good timing that this week's TWD pick is Dorie's Lemon Yogurt Cake? Which, since I conducted this little experiment of mine, I've made again and again. The last time I added some chopped fresh cranberries, and switched out the vanilla for a touch of lemon juice. Divine!

Anyone have any suggestions for another head to head challenge for me? I'm open to ideas!